101+ Non-Toy Gift Ideas for Kids

Last week, I went into my girls’ room and it was a disaster. Clothes, toys, books, and random “treasures” were strewn around the room.

Toys were overflowing from every corner, behind the dresser, under the bed, and stacked nearly waist-high in the closet.

I told my girls it was the final straw and packed tons of random, junky toys into trash bags to throw away or give away. We ended up with about 6 black trash bags of stuff and they still had a closet full of toys. The whole process took two days and about eight hours.

When the room was finally clean, the girls were ecstatic. They played with toys they hadn’t seen in months.

After such an arduous cleaning adventure, I vowed that this year, we would not be giving our girls more stuff to get lost or throw away later. This year, I only want to pick non-toy gift ideas for kids for my girls to use. It will save us tons of heartache in the future.

Non-Toy Gift Ideas for Kids

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It’s easy to buy toys for kids because not only are non-toy gift ideas sometimes expensive, but they may also be difficult to find. But if you too, are tired of the clutter and want a bit less junk this holiday season, you will find use from this list of non-toy gift ideas for kids.

Experience Gifts

Experiences make great non-toy gift ideas for kids. I love giving experience gifts because it allows children to try something they may want to persue seriously later without pressure or a lot of expense on your part. And it’s easy to tell if it isn’t for your child, too. Last year, Monkey begged for a real bow like Katniss has, so I got her one, but after skinning her thumb while using the bow, she hasn’t asked to do archery since.

Swimming lessons
Martial arts classes
Riding lessons
Flying lessons (for older kids)
Special trips (Disneyland, local attractions, camping trips, sleep-away camps, out-of-town trips with just one parent)
Dance classes
Enrollment in a sport (try shorter classes for unusual sports, like archery, polo, fencing, or gymnastics)
Music lessons
Tickets to a concert
Trip to see their favorite idol on tour (my eldest likes a lot of YouTubers, so we’ve made plans to see a couple when they go on tour)
Amusement park pass
Zoo pass
Aquarium pass
Train ride
Boat tour
Carriage ride
Cooking classes
Hot air balloon ride
Ride in a sports car
Lunch with a fairy or princess
Tickets to a magic show
Tickets to see live versions of children’s cartoons
Visit to a local landmark

Subscription Gifts

Subscription gifts are some of our favorite non-toy gifts.

Magazine subscriptions (popular at our house are Zoobooks, Lego magazine, Highlights For Children, National Geographic Kids, Family Fun, and anything science-themed)
Subscription boxes (Groovy Lab and Austin Lloyd will be showing up at our house this year. We also love Read Brightly, Little Passports, Green Kid Crafts, and Kiwi Crate)
Food subscriptions (these can either come as a subscription box or you can set recurring orders on Amazon for fun treats and foods)
Book of the month club

Educational Gifts

As a homeschooling family, we love our educational gifts!

Notebooks
Paper
Fun pencils or pens
Textbooks (Monkey is obsessed with encyclopedia-style books)
Science experiment kit
Microscope
Educational posters
Biographies
Books from the child’s assigned reading list
“Doodle” books
Coloring books
Telescope
Robot building kit
Coding books
Coding games
Sewing machine
Crochet or kitting supplies
Bookshelf
Subscriptions to online learning sites (abcmouse.com, alwaysicecream.com, etc)
Kindle/Nook/other e-reader
Tablet/computer
Phone (depending on the age of the child)
Journal
Cookbooks
Woodworking Kit
Tools

Virtual Gifts

No need for physical products- these gifts are all virtual.

Digital movies (all our movies are digital now)
Digital music
Digital games (we are fans of Steam)
Subscription to online games/programs
E-books
Game console downloads
Audiobooks

Consumable Gifts

These non-toy gift ideas for kids are consumable and won’t take space on your shelf.

Fun snacks
Craft/art supplies
Pottery kit
Butterfly garden
Fish (fish are consumable at our house)
Seeds and gardening tools
Potted plant
Gift certificates (bonus points if the trip itself is consumable, such as to a special bakery)
Clothes (use your judgement here, some kids hate getting clothes. My girls love getting clothes, but I hated it when I was a kid)
Fun soap/shampoo
Nail polish or perfume
Glitter hair or body spray (at age 9, Monkey loves this stuff)
Band aids
Canvases
Hair ties
Wood scraps or building/whittling supplies
Coupon books
Chalk
Bubble bath
Bubbles
Calendar
Pajamas (bonus points for glow in the dark pajamas)

“Needed” Items

Fun bedding
New paint/art for their room
Updated gaming console (Monkey is getting a 3DS)
Flashlight
Room organization items (cubbies, trunks, etc)
New pet
Piggy bank (my kids really like robot piggy banks for some reason)
Personalized chore tools (maybe an apron with their name on it or a child-sized rake)
Camping supplies (sleeping bag, etc)
Fun versions of essential items (underwear with their favorite character, silly socks, themed mittens, colorful rain boots, etc)
Analog clock
Watch
Alarm clock (I’ve had my eye on this Hello Kitty one for my girls for a while now)
Outdoor toys (this year, Bo is getting a scooter)

Gifts for the Future

I don’t recommend only giving this kind of gift to your kids, but these non-toy gift ideas for kids will definitely be useful in the future.

Educational savings account
Stocks, bonds, or other investments
Savings or checking account with money
Gold or silver
Money for college or extra-curricular activities

We’re taking this year to really cut down on our clutter inside the house. We’re using many of these non-toy gift ideas for kids during our Christmas this year.

What are your favorite non-toy gift ideas for kids? Did I miss anything on my list?